


Distracted by the Scenery

by teand



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M, preslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-15
Updated: 2012-03-15
Packaged: 2017-11-02 00:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/362816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teand/pseuds/teand
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny took another look at the turquoise water and finally turned his attention to Steve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Distracted by the Scenery

**Author's Note:**

> First published in Lj April 23, 2011. Three word prompt: manapua, homesick, cliff

The ocean off of the Jersey shore always looked cold. Usually, because it _was_ cold, it being the North Atlantic and all. Sometimes, like in the middle of a hot and humid August day, it was a good cold, but it was always cold. Even on its bluest day, there was the faintest hint of grey to it, like a warning that the memory of ice never completely left the water.

But here, in Hawaii, standing on a cliff looking down at a different ocean, Danny could tell from the colour, from the half dozen shades of turquoise, that the water would be just enough below body temperature to be refreshing but not so far below to cause even the palest tourist to shiver. He watched a trio of teenage girls sitting up on their surfboards, all three of them apparently talking at the same time, clearly not so much waiting for a wave as hanging out. Back on the crescent of golden beach, a few boys were kicking a soccer ball around and half a dozen younger kids were patting sand onto what looked like the recreation of an upturned dinghy.

Danny squinted and took another look. Or they were burying a body, it was hard to tell from up here.

Even considering the possibility of hiding a corpse, there wasn't any of the urgency down there that you saw on a Jersey beach. People here didn't have to grab the good days and squeeze every drop out of them because, well, it was a fucking tropical paradise wasn't it? Half a dozen things hidden under that picture postcard surf could kill you and you'd be so distracted by the scenery, you'd never see them coming.

"You're frowning."

"I'm squinting, Steven. It's what you do when the sun is glinting off the ocean and six kids might be burying a body."

"They're sculpting a giant sea turtle."

"Or they're burying a body under a sand sculpture of a giant sea turtle." He could feel Steve staring at the side of his face and he fought the urge to grin. "Look at them. They look like dangerous felons to me." One of them looked like Kono must have at ten – all elbows and knees and attitude.

"They look like kids."

"Yeah, and while kids here may be sun-kissed angels, back in New Jersey _kid_ and _dangerous felon_ was not mutually exclusive."

"Homesick?"

Danny took another look at the turquoise water and finally turned his attention on Steve. His partner back in Jersey had been a brick shithouse of a man who worked off the tensions of the job in the gym, layering on bulk he could use to intimidate the punks they dealt with on a daily basis. What you saw was what you got; like the ocean off a Jersey shore. His partner here...

At the risk of flogging the analogy, or possibly the metaphor, to death, his partner here could kill you half a dozen ways but you'd be so distracted by the scenery, you'd never see them coming. Not gym muscle but long, lean muscle from swimming and running and kicking ass. No burn on the back of the neck, red from too long in the sun, but golden brown...

"No..." Danny cleared his throat and wiped suddenly sweaty palms on his thighs. "...not for a while now."

He heard the innuendo in his voice – unintentional and equally unstoppable – and knew from the way Steve's eyes widened, he'd heard it too. Heard it and correctly interpreted it. He opened his mouth and Danny braced himself.

One of the uniforms who'd been part of the clean-up operation – where clean-up had involved three smashed cars, two of them innocently parked by the side of the road, a small fire, and a suitcase of C4 – stopped behind Steve's left shoulder and cleared her throat. "Commander McGarrett? If you have nothing left to say to Makaio Johnston, the EMT's would like to take him to the hospital."

Steve's expression shifted so quickly Danny was surprised the muscles in his face didn't cramp up. By the time he turned to the constable, he was wearing his _Inscrutable Badass_ face. By the time he turned back to Danny, after allowing that possibly Makaio Johnston was entitled to medical attention in spite of a truly dumbass plan to blow up the Haleiwa Bridge, _Inscrutable Badass_ had become merely _Inscrutable_. When Steve opened his mouth again, Danny spent a terrified moment thinking he was about to say, _"We need to talk about this."_

What he said was, "You hungry?"

"I could eat," Danny admitted cautiously.

"Great. We'll hit a manapua shop on the way back to the office."

"A who what?"

"Manapua. It's a dumpling with meat in the middle. Usually pork." His brows drew in. "There's no way you've been in Hawaii this long and haven't had a manapua. There's shops all over the place."

"There's beauty salons all over the place too. Haven't had a mani-pedi either." Danny frowned at his nails. "Not to say I don't need one." When Steve sputtered, he looked up and grinned. "Hey, I'm secure in my masculinity."

"Good."

As always, SuperSeal had to raise the bar. Steve's innuendo made his sound faintly pathetic. He wet his lips, noted that Steve tracked the motion of his tongue and said, "Manapua."

"What?"

"You offered me pork in a bun. Because I could eat," he added when Steve frowned. "Food. Supper." He took one last look at the beach. The water definitely looked inviting. And back at Steve. "You offered to feed me and I'm in the mood for something Hawaiian."

Steve blinked and okay, maybe the cheese _had_ been layered on a little thick. "Are you still talking about..."

"Manapua shop on the way to the office." Taking Steve's arm, he turned him toward the still miraculously undamaged Camero. "After the paperwork, after the pork in a bun, then we find out what the water's like."

"You don't swim."

Danny stopped walking. After a moment Steve stopped too. When he had the other man's full attention Danny spread his hands in the universal gesture for _this is important, pay attention dumbass_. "I _swim_ , Steve."

Steve's smile rivalled one of those annoyingly perfect Hawaiian sunsets. "I swim too."

"I know."

"I mean..."

"I know. Pork in a bun now. Then paperwork. _Then_..."

"It's not exactly pork in a bun, Danny."

"Is there pineapple in it?"

"Not usually."

"Then manapua me, babe." A moment later, as Steve sprayed gravel leaving the shoulder, he added, "I didn't really think they were burying a body."


End file.
